


Bees and the Beach: Bumblebee Practice

by Kiiratam



Series: Bees and the Beach [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff, Mild Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 07:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: Yang and Blake take another trip out to their secret beach. Little does Yang suspect that Blake has been conspiring with Ruby and Weiss...Takes place between Volumes 1 and 2. (My BMBLB fic index)





	Bees and the Beach: Bumblebee Practice

Yang pulled Bumblebee to a halt on the side of the road with mixed feelings. On one hand, they were here. On the other, Blake's arms had been locked around her waist for the last hour, and Yang wasn't exactly eager to have that stop.

  
"About time Secret Beach lives up to its name!" Unlike the last time she and Blake had been out here, there wasn't another vehicle in sight. She braced herself, balancing Bumblebee to let Blake get off. Felt Blake's arms unclasp, her weight vanish from the bike.

  
"Not that I mind the quiet-" Yang saw Blake pull her helmet off in her mirror. "-But aren't we a little isolated? Is it safe?"

  
Yang nodded, and removed her own helmet. "Yeah, there are a couple of patrol boats on the Patch Ferry route, and they pass nearby. But if Grimm do show up, you've got Gambol Shroud, I've got Ember Celica. They'll be the ones who aren't safe."

  
Handing Yang her helmet, Blake popped open Bumblebee's saddlebags. "So what's the plan?"

  
Maglocking both helmets to her bike, Yang said. "Get to the beach, throw you in the water, eat the food, have a nap, throw you in the water, have a snack, head home."

  
Blake offered her the collapsible basket, now loaded with food and drink. "What about me throwing you in water?" She smiled broadly, and Yang felt a sudden shudder in her knees.

  
"Um. Did you want to start with that?"

  
"If you want, we could practice Bumblebee; see how far out I can throw you. I'm sure Ruby will be happy that we're practicing on our off-days."

  
Yang snorted. She hadn't thought her little sister could be such a taskmaster. Ruby had devised combo maneuvers for everyone, gave them cutesy little names, and made RWBY drill them until they could hardly stand.

  
Blake laughed. "Plus, swimming back should tire you out! You have to catch me before you can throw me in the water, after all." She shouldered a bag filled with towels and blankets.

  
"Did you conspire with Ruby to make me work on our beach day, or is this all you?"

  
"Weiss, actually. She had some suggestions when we were making study guides yesterday."

  
They started down the hill, through the widely-spaced trees. "We'll have to invite her next time." Yang said. "Then I can throw _her_ in the water, and see how she likes it."

  
Blake shrugged. "I don't actually know if she knows how to swim. You remember the pool?"

  
"Yeah, she froze it and went ice skating. I'd like to see her do the same thing with the ocean."

  
"Oh, let it go, Yang. Besides, it'll be fun." Blake swung the basket, not quite skipping. "You'll get a great view from up there."

  
Yang looked down at Ember Celica. "It does it explain why Ruby offered to double check the waterproofing yesterday."

  
Blake smiled back at her. "There was some mild conspiracy, yes. And I may have to take some video so Ruby can check our technique. But it'll be fun!"

  
"I mean, yeah. Flying." She flipped her aviators down. "So long as you get your turn in the water. Wanna meet me halfway in?"

  
"Maybe knee-deep. I've never actually swam in the ocean before."

  
"Just pools?"

  
Blake nodded. "That, and rivers. Not used to waves."

  
"They're the best part! It's like the ocean is playing with you." Yang laughed. Or like it was trying to kill you, she added to herself. But as long as you stayed out the riptide, they were almost negligent attempts at murder. Not that either sort would really reassure Blake.

  
Her favorite part was always dancing with the biggest waves, rolling with them like they were punches. Getting crunched by the one monster that got through, and getting hit hard enough to activate her Semblance. Bursting out of the waves, glowing with power.

  
They emerged onto the beach. Beautiful, as always. But Yang had been coming here since she was a kid, so she turned to watch Blake's reaction. She had a video of Blake's first time seeing the secret beach on her scroll, but the second time- still wonderful to watch.

  
The sea breeze blowing Blake's dark hair back, her eyes widening as she took it all. The carefree joy of the place slowly settling onto her face. A little bit of the tension Blake always carried burning off in the sunlight. A little bit of hunger in her eyes, that Yang recognized. It was her 'I smell fish where is fish give me fish' look, and Yang laughed.

  
Blake turned to her. "What's so funny?"

  
"You. You looked cute."

  
Starting to blush, Blake hurried forward and looked for a spot to set up the blanket. Yang followed in her wake, grinning. She was so easy to fluster! And it was so much fun doing it, too.

  
Blake toed a rock out of the way, spread the red-and-white chequered blanket out. Yang weighed down one corner with the picnic basket, and sat down on the blanket itself to shed her jacket and start working her boots off. She looked over her shoulder at Blake, hearing her make a noise.

  
She was staring at Yang's back, bare except for the straps of her bikini. Yang bit her lip, trying not to laugh again. "See something you like?" She asked, with deliberate ease, subtly flexing her back muscles.

  
Blake nodded fractionally. "I forgot you just wore your jacket over your bikini."

  
"Why bother with any other layers? We just went to the grocery and came here. Saves me time, not having to change."

  
Blake started a bit. "Oh! I need to do that."

  
"What was your plan if there were actually other people on the beach?" What was her plan now? Just change out in the open? Yang focused on her boot straps, feeling a bit more heat in her face than the sun could account for.

  
"...Hide?"

  
Rolling onto her back, Yang shimmied out of her thick biking pants. Saw Blake looking down at her, face crimson. Yang looked down at herself. Oh. Yeah, the shimmying had probably made for a good show. She sat up, looked out to the ocean, trying not to blush any more than she was. "So, Bumblebee?"

  
"Oh! Um. Yes. Let me just..." There was a creak of leather as Blake slipped out of Yang's spare biking jacket, and pulled her own boots off.

  
Yang pushed herself to her feet, snapped Ember Celica out. Checked that she had the right shells loaded and ready. She heard Gambol Shroud being unsheathed behind her, and turned around. Blake had reattached the scabbard to her back, and was holding her scroll in one hand and her katana in the other, the long black ribbon blowing in the ocean breeze.

  
"I'll just set my scroll up off to the side. What do you think, circling just short of the waves?"

  
Yang nodded. "Yeah, the sand will make it hard to build speed. So the wetter, the better." They scrolled out towards the waves, Yang enjoying the feel of sand beneath her toes. Once it started to firm up, she said, "This should work."

  
Backtracking a bit, Blake propped her scroll up in the sand, crouching down to make sure it had a good view. "Yang, you want to pace around where you think our circle will be?"

  
Yang picked a central point, and started circling around it, about fifteen feet out. Gambol Shroud's ribbon wasn't quite that long, but given the length of their arms, and that Blake wouldn't be staying exactly in place, it should be a good estimate. The circle was big enough that she'd be running on dry sand for a bit. A good place to jump and let Blake keep swinging her.

  
"Okay, it's all set up." Blake stood up, grabbed her scabbard off her back.

  
Yang pointed at the center of the circle she'd paced out. Blake nodded, and walked to the indicated point. She took hold of the end of the ribbon, and tossed Yang her katana. They'd learned that it was easier if Yang held it, so Blake could focus more on bracing and less on not cutting her own hands off. Yang tossed Blake her aviators, not wanting to lose them. 

  
Taking a firm, two handed grip on the ribbon, Blake lowered her stance. She tugged on the ribbon, signalling she was ready.

  
Yang started her circle, sprinting as fast as she could in the sand. First circle was just on her feet, but for the next two, she fired off Ember Celica as she ran, adding momentum. By the third time around, she was barely touching the sand, letting Blake and the ribbon swing her around.

  
The release was always the tricky part. As the proverbial hammer, Yang didn't have the best point of view for aiming. But Blake couldn't just throw Yang and her katana, disarming herself except for the edge of her scabbard. What they'd worked out was that Blake would let go of the ribbon with her trailing hand, letting it slip forward. Yang, feeling the new motion, would let go, and go flying off towards whatever Blake had aimed her at.

  
But the timing had to be precise. In training, Yang was sure they'd managed to hit every possible permutation of failure. Blake had failed to keep hold of the ribbon entirely, and disarmed herself. Yang had failed to let go when she should, and gone wildly off target. They'd let go, held on, too soon, too late...

  
Whipping around, Yang felt the ribbon jerk as Blake let it slip forward. She let go, and found herself soaring over the waves, until she ploughed fist first through one. She recovered, swimming up to the crest of a wave and waving at the shore. Blake waved back, and beckoned her in.

  
Yang swam a bit in, then waded the rest of the way. Blake met her at the very edge of the water, dancing back and forth out of the incoming waves. She gave her a thumbs up. "Nice release. You landed just where I was aiming you."

  
"Did you mean for me to hit that wave?"

  
"I figured you would want a target at splashdown."

  
Yang laughed. "It never saw me coming. How far do you think I went?"

  
"Maybe fifty feet? You went out on a pretty flat arc, though. I can probably get you farther if I angle you up a bit."

  
"Want to go again?"

* * *

Yang flopped back down on their blanket, panting for breath. "Okay, I need to eat. No way I'll be able to catch you otherwise." She stripped Ember Celica off her wrists, and set her aside.

  
"Oh! You were trying to catch me?" Sitting down on the opposite corner, Blake set Gambol Shroud next to her boots. Showing absolutely no sign of effort from outdistancing Yang over the hundred foot dash back to their blanket. "What would you do if you caught me?"

  
"Check your ankles for wings, first." Blake had just skimmed over the hot sand, where Yang had to plough her way through. Yang could manage some fancy, bouncy footwork, but she knew when she was outclassed. "How are you so fast?"

  
Blake shrugged, pulled a bottle of water from the basket. "Years of practice."

  
Yang started to ask, 'doing what?', then she saw the tension that was settling in Blake's shoulders. The White Fang. Right. Having the Schnee Dust Company and the Kingdoms after you for terrorism would make anyone good at running. Or they'd catch you.

  
Looking for a distraction, Yang started digging in the basket. "So, what did you want? We've got your sushi in the mini-cooler, fruits, veggies, sandwich fixings-"

  
"Sushi." Yang already had the mini-cooler out in anticipation. She passed it to Blake, and started assembling a sandwich for herself.

  
Yang tried to relax. She hated seeing Blake's memories eat at her; hated being the one to set them off. Blake almost never talked about it, but Yang wasn't about to press her to remember. Better to dance blindfolded in a minefield than deliberately set one off in your face. As long as you could keep dancing. What didn't kill you made you stronger.

  
"I think I saw a sailboat out there, the last time." She said, piling up meat and cheese.

  
"Oh? Did they see you?"

  
"I hope so. Would have liked to see the look on their faces." Yang pulled some shocked faces, trying to get Blake to smile again.

  
She got a small one, at least. Yang pressed on. "Do you think we broke a hundred feet? I think I was at least twenty feet off the waves, but I'm always get at bit busy at the end."

  
"We can check." Blake pulled her scroll out, and scooted closer, letting Yang see. "So, first one - I said fifty or so?"

  
"Yeah."

  
Blake kept jumping ahead in the video, to the release and Yang flying off into the waves. "That one was at least seventy-five. That was where I got the right angle up."

  
Yang nodded, chewing on her sandwich. Saw herself get thrown into the waves a few more times.

  
"And here we go." They watched Yang fly off again. "I think you probably hit a hundred feet. I don't think you got much farther."

  
Yang shrugged. "If we really want to know, we can find an open field at Beacon. The landings won't be as fun." She paused. "You know Ruby's going to want to know."

  
"Yeah, but we can let her ask in her own time." Blake closed her scroll and put it away. "I promised Ruby we'd practice. I didn't come to the beach with you just to train all day." She reached up and stroked Yang's shoulder with her knuckles. "I did want to go swimming with you."

  
Yang tried to say something and swallow at the same time, choked. Coughed for a bit as Blake pounded on her back. When she could talk again, said, "Sorry. Ruined the moment."

  
Looking at her, eyes still big with concern, Blake said, "I'm just glad you're all right."

  
"Still here. Bad at eating, apparently, but still here." She hefted her half-eaten sandwich. "So I'm going to finish this, and it's probably safer if I didn't talk. You okay to read for a bit?"

  
Blake pulled out a book out of the basket, looking at her like she'd just grown a second head.

  
"Okay, dumb question." Yang turned her attention to her sandwich. Felt Blake move, lean back to back with her.

  
It just felt right, sitting there in silence, with only the waves and the gulls. Yang finished her sandwich, and pulled the basket closer. Dug in it a bit, feeling the stillness of Blake against her own motion. Pulling out this month's issue of _Zoom_ , she flipped to the first article. Settled back to read.

* * *

She felt Blake reach up to her ribbon, half turned around. Blake pulled the ribbon out, freeing her ears. She worked them around for a bit. Yang had a sudden realization. It wasn't that Blake was reserved, necessarily. She wasn't as outspoken as Yang, but with her ears posing as a bow, her biggest emotional tell was literally constrained.

  
Blake reached back and tapped Yang's shoulder. "I'm going to go get changed. Mind facing the ocean for a few minutes?"

  
"Sure." Yang flipped to the last page of _Zoom_ , tried to read the half-funny musings of the editor. It wasn't like they didn't share a room. But with four people in a small room, you had to learn not to see things. Like what Weiss' hair did before she brushed it. Yang grinned, flicked her own cowlick. She thought hers was bad... But not seeing Blake changing was one of the harder things to ignore, mainly because she desperately wanted to sit back and watch. Dressing, undressing, exciting underwear - any or all of it.

  
But she really, _really_ couldn't. Besides being rude, Yang had things to do. Like be able to walk, or talk. Things that she, somehow, developed problems with if she thought about Blake in the wrong way. Or the right way, depending on how you looked at it. She read the same sentence for the fourth time, understanding none of it.

  
Yang deliberately did not think of Blake stripping behind her, skin bare beneath the sun. Toes gripping the sand as she stared at Yang's back while pulling her swimsuit on. Her cute little curls behind her lower ears, cascading down to bare shoulders. The curve of her hip and her perky butt. Yang realized her deliberate non-thought on the subject contained a great many specific details. She read the sentence for a fifth time; gave up, moved on.

  
She stuck the tip of her tongue between her teeth and bit down, trying to focus on the pain. Yang looked out over the ocean. No sails out there now. Maybe that dot on the horizon was the Patch island ferry. She reached up for her aviators. Realized that she'd given them to Blake before the first launch. Shaded her eyes and peered at the dot. Checked the time on her scroll, did some mental math. Yeah, that was almost certainly it.

  
Behind her, Blake said, "What do you think?"

  
Yang looked over her shoulder. Had to swing her arm around to keep herself from falling over. She had been expecting Blake in a one-piece - maybe a nice sporty model that showed off her sleek lines. Blake was not wearing a one-piece. Blake was wearing a bikini. Instead of half-glimpsed details, Yang was getting to - had been asked - to look. Actually, a distant corner of her mind noted, what she was doing was 'gaping', not 'looking'. While she updated her list of 'favorite parts of Blake', the same corner reminded her that Blake had asked her a question.

  
"Um. Ah." Yang blinked rapidly, trying to remember how to make organized mouth noises. "Great."

  
Blake grinned and twirled around, sending the purple ties of her bikini flaring out. Yang suddenly wanted to tug on them, and pull Blake down to the blanket, and... The corner of her mind, the last bastion of actual thought, noted that Blake's butt looked really, _really_ good.

  
"What's the matter, Yang? Weren't you going to chase me?" She laughed, started off towards the waves at an easy trot, ears perked up.

  
Yang suddenly had to remember how to stand, and walk, and run. Running was suddenly very important to her.

  
Blake led her on a merry route, weaving back and forth out of the waves' reach while Yang just charged through, splashing. She kept looking back, and Yang was sure that she was catching up. Blake suddenly swerved oceanward in the retreat of a large wave, and Yang finally caught up to her, grabbing her around the waist. Blake twisted around, turning the grab into a hug. And the next wave crashed over both of them, soaking them to the waist.

  
The splash brought Yang back to herself. Arms wrapped around Blake, standing together in the waves. Blake hugged her back tightly, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them slowly.

  
"Want to go a bit further in?" Yang nodded that way.

  
Blake broke the hug, but grabbed Yang's hand. "Yeah. Just stay close, okay?"

* * *

Soaked, they padded back up to the blanket. Blake bent over to grab a pair of towels from her bag. Yang was more than happy to watch. She was pretty sure that the sight her forget words, but she absolutely was not going to complain. Laughing, Blake threw the towel at her head.

  
"Very subtle, Yang."

  
Yang started toweling off her hair, with a broad smile. "You are on the wrong beach with the wrong girl, if you wanted subtle."

  
"So, now that you can talk again: you like my swimsuit?" Blake squeezed the water out her hair and started by drying off her ears, then arms and shoulders.

  
"Well, you in it made me unable to talk. So yes."

  
Blake smiled at her. "Good. That was what I wanted. I had to take Pyrrha shopping with me to work up the nerve, but I did it." The last was delivered in a lower tone, as Blake looked to the side, blushing a touch.

  
Starting to pat herself dry, Yang started to say something, then paused. How could she best phrase this? Blake had stopped her before, when Yang had got excited and pressed too hard. She took a deep breath. Just ask her, don't put too much force on it. Leave her space to get away. Even if Yang desperately wanted to cling to her. "Did you have plans for the afternoon? More reading? Sunbathing? ...Making out?"

  
Blake started to laugh, stopped. Looked into Yang's eyes. Pressed her lips together, thinking. But her eyes stayed on Yang's, not flicking around like when she got anxious. She reached out, tucked one of Yang's wet locks of hair behind her ear. "Maybe another time? It won't be too cold for one last trip out here after the Vytal Festival."

  
Yang reached up and took Blake's hand. Squeezed it tightly. "You know, I don't think I've ever been out here in the autumn. I bet it's still beautiful."

  
"We can find out. Together." Blake thought for a moment, and laughed. "It may be coats and not bikinis, though."

  
Snorting, Yang let Blake's hand go. "Still. It'll be you." They looked away from each other. Blake digging out her book, Yang stretching out on the blanket. Closed her eyes. "Let me know to turn over in half an hour?"

  
"Sure, Yang. ...Thanks for being patient."

  
"You're worth it. I'm not the best at patience, but you're worth every second. However fast you want to go."

  
Yang felt Blake pet her hair, press her forehead against Yang's. Whisper, "Thank you."

  
The sun dried the last of the water, warmed her skin to meet the heat glowing inside of her. Blake kept a hand on her hair, lifting it to the whispering turn of page, then returning it. Aglow with contentment, Yang drifted off to sleep.


End file.
